Foolish Errands
by King and Commoner
Summary: Six months ago, Harry Dresden secluded himself on the island of Demonreach. Now he has returned to fulfill his duties as the Winter Knight. But when his duties take him to a concert, he learns about a war was he didn't even know he was fighting.
1. Chapter 1: Seekers of Truth

**KaC: Hello, and welcome to the first chapter of my newest story, Foolish Errands. This is a Dresden Files and Persona crossover. It takes place after P4 Arena and after Cold Days. There will be spoilers for both series. **

**Disclaimer: I own neither Dresden Files nor Persona. **

* * *

Ch. 1: Seekers of Truth

There are stories about knights. Knights who go fight dragons and rescue princesses. Knights who sit in their king's court and have banquets in the honor of Lord so-and-so. Knights who get to be sexually assaulted by a castle full of eight-score young blondes and brunettes all between age 16 and 19½.

I got to go to a concert.

It could have been worse. Mab's first order was to have me kill her daughter. Her second order was to stay out of trouble, which basically consisted of me living on an island for 5 months and 29 days. At least I had company. Mostly it was the floating, locally omniscient spirit of the island, but who am I to complain?

For those of you keeping score, my name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. I've been a wizard most of my life. I've been a warden of the White Council for about eight years. I've been The Warden of Demonreach for around four. And I've been the Winter Knight of Mab for one year, half of which I spent in the _most fun_ rehabilitation program known to man. My hobbies include alchemy, setting things on fire, and being chased by beings from beyond the known limits of the universe.

But that's just a Tuesday. At this point, I was fulfilling my duties as the Winter Knight and protecting the Winter Lady, my apprentice, and the daughter of my best friend, Molly Carpenter. Mab decided that she had had enough training for the first months and agreed to send her back, which is why I was sitting at her table, waiting for Goldilocks to find the outfit that's just right. Six months before that, my mantle would have been screaming at me to go into her room and "assert my dominance" over the girl, but the few times I had more company than Mr. Spookypants on the island I got to hang with Murphy, the five foot blonde ex-officer who I have personally seen take down a man twice her weight in less than 10 seconds. The moment she heard about that little problem of mine, she threatened to castrate me with her handgun. Apparently, even the force of cold power and dark emotions brewing inside of me is capable of understanding that.

I glanced down at my new watch, the first one I've had in years that didn't break within an hour. 8:00 PM. The concert started in an hour, and we'd be lucky to get there at the rate Molly was going.

"Hey grasshopper, any chance we could get somewhere on time?"

I heard a noise behind me and turned to see my apprentice standing in the doorway wearing a red tank top and white jeans. I couldn't help but glance at her hair. Ever since I knew her she had dyed it every color of the rainbow. Since she became the Winter Lady it _was _every color in the rainbow, and then some. Stand too far away from her and it actually looks pure white.

"Don't get grouchy, Lancelot. There's plenty of time for you to get your Burger King before the show."

"Why are we going to this thing again?"

"Because _I _won backstage passes, and _you_ have to play bodyguard as long as I'm here."

I got up from the table and stuffed a pair of leather gloves in my pocket. They were a part of a new project I was working on and they deserved the chance for a field test, however slim.

"Okay, let's go then. Do I even want to know the name of the band I'll be subjecting my ears to tonight?"

Molly just shrugged her shoulders and walked out the door. "The band's only been around for a few years. They're called-"

* * *

"SEEKERS OF TRUTH!"

If there's any lesson to take from this story it's this, concerts are loud. Seriously, the band hasn't even started yet and my ears are trying to implode. Molly was right there with them. I'm pretty sure she was using magic to make herself louder. At least I don't stand out too much around here, half the fans in the crowd were men, and a lot of them were around thirty, and I've been looking younger ever since I took up the mantle, not that young but young enough.

A dense fog began to fill the stage and I could see the band members begin to rise out of it. I began to catalog each of the members, checking for threats to the Winter Lady. First was the drummer. It took me a second to realize that it was not, in fact, some kind of bear on stage, but a boy, no older than 22, who had pulled a hood with two round blue ears, tightly around his head. A second glance revealed that the boy's red and white outfit had a puffball tail attached with the same blue color. His eyes were covered by a pair of blue shaded goggles. The second person to rise was a bass player with shoulder-length golden-brown. Her presence renewed the shouting from some of the men in the audience. The brunette girl had on a green sweater-jacket and a pair of cut-off jeans. Her eyes too were covered, by a pair of amber shaded sunglasses. The third band member appeared behind a keyboard. His light brown hair was short spiky. He wore a black jacket and matching pants. A pair of red headphones dangled around his neck. His glasses were shaded orange. The second guitarist rose to the stage. I had to cover my ears again as Molly screamed at the musician, along with almost every other girl in the hall. The young man was about six feet tall with hair so deep a gray it almost looked silver, and his eyes were so striking that even behind his mirrored sunglasses, it felt like I was being drawn into his eyes. But it was the final member of the band who drew the most cheers. The young woman had long auburn hair, reaching her waist and wore an orange tank top with a white jacket and cutoff jeans. Her sunglasses were shaded a deep crimson.

I felt a coldness seeping into my veins. The singer was beneath me, submitting to my will, and I saw myself preparing to take her with her boyfriend's blood on my hands. A primal yell tore its way out of my throat as I descended on the crying girl.

I gathered my will and forced the desires of the mantle into the back of my head. I could feel myself shivering and cold sweat dripping down my skin as if it were happening to somebody else. The mantle hadn't done that to me since Halloween. I thought me and Murphy had managed to suppress it. But it still held strong. The mantle had the will of a monster, but it was my monster, and I would keep it in check.

I glanced over at Molly and watched her cheering as the band's first song started up. It was…haunting. There weren't any words being sung, just notes ghostly and high and beautiful. Then the male guitarist started to play and the song evolved from its roots into a medley of sound and song. It was actually pretty good. Personally I prefer the King, but I've heard Molly listen to much worse than this.

I checked on Molly again, and, for a moment, I thought I saw her eyes change. Almost like they were…glowing.

* * *

It was almost midnight when the concert ended. We waited in our seats for the crowds to clear out. Molly was dancing in her chair; she looked kind of like a three year old waiting for the previews to end so he could see Optimus Prime face off against the forces of Galvatron. It was kind of adorable really.

When the crowd had finally cleared enough to see the stage again, Molly dragged me over to the side entrance and shook hands with some radio DJ. He gave instructions to Molly, something about keeping the pass on and not pissing off somebody or another, and opened the door to let us in.

We walked along the corridor backstage; Molly, apparently having listened to the DJ, led us straight past several door and turns until we reached one with a giant golden star on it. She reached up her hand to knock, but I grabbed it before she could touch the door.

A deep, low pitched hum filled my head. It felt like a strong source of magic was behind the door, but it was…off somehow. It felt human but not human enough. I reached out with my senses and felt along the door. There weren't any active spells, so there shouldn't have been any problem walking in. I pulled my magical senses back and prepared to knock on the door myself.

"HEY! What the hell are you pricks doin' here!?"

A blonde man charge down the hall at us. He was taller than average, but still at least half a foot shorter that I am. He wore a red t-shirt with a skull over his heart and a black biker jacket that seemed to be glued onto his shoulders, because nothing else was keeping it attached to his back. His face was scrunched up and his mouth was sneering as he stomped up to me.

"You two aren't allowed back here.

It took me a second to react. Admittedly I was trying to decide between cracking a joke and slapping away the finger he had pointed at me. It looked like Molly was about to answer before I could, but the door next to us opened.

"Kanji, please refrain from yelling right outside of the room. I'm sure nobody is here to do us any harm."

A young woman, about 22 or so if I had to guess, walked out of the room and placed a hand on the boy's arm. She had jet black hair tied into a ponytail, and wore a crimson red skirt suit and black stockings. Her other hand was held up to her face and tapping her glasses, whose frames perfectly matched the suit. She held herself like a librarian, calm but perfectly in control. When the blonde man had been calmed down she turned to us and glanced at the passes dangling from our necks.

"Oh, you must be the contest winners. I'm sorry for Kanji's actions, he gets rowdy after the shows sometimes." She held out her hand towards us and kept talking, "I'm Yukiko Amagi, the band's manager. If you'll please come in, the band is waiting."

I nodded my head and shook her hand. "Harry Dresden, and this is Molly Carpenter. Thank you for your interference, but I'm sure your security didn't mean any harm."

The raven-haired girl laughed and walked into the room. "Kanji-kun is not security. He's the costume designer."

I felt my blood draining from my face as I glanced over at the boy waiting for us to go into the room. I'm a little rusty at reading faces, but I'm pretty sure his was saying something along the lines of 'Laugh and I'll tie your arms into a pretzel before drop kicking you over the lake.'

Like I said, rusty.

We followed Yukiko in the room. It was…cozy. It felt more like someone's living room than a place for the band to relax back stage, but that may have been the people in it. There was no tension in the room at all. If I had to place it, it felt more like sitting in a room with a bunch of old war buddies than a group of band members. It was like these people already knew the darkest parts of each other and accepted them fully. They were laughing about something the keyboardist had done if the blush on his face was anything to go by, but there was no malice behind any of it.

When the laughter died down, Yukiko stepped forward and coughed. "Everyone. This is the winner of the radio contest and her guest Molly Carpenter and Harry Dresden."

Immediately the blonde boy who had been wearing the pear costume jumped up and snatched Molly's hand. "Hello beautiful. I'm Teddie and I'm bear-y excited to meet you. Do you want to-"

Yukiko smacked him on the head before he could finish talking. "I thought we had agreed you would stop doing that."

Teddie rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Don't be like that Yuki-chan. You know I love _you_ the most."

Yukiko looked like she was about to hit him again, but the bassist appeared behind her and held her back. "Yukiko, it's not worth it. We both know he won't do any harm to anyone but himself."

Yukiko struggled in her arms for a bit before calming down. The girl behind her slowly let her go before turning to us. "Chie Satonaka, it's great to meet you!"

The keyboardist walked up behind Chie and placed his arm around her shoulder. "Hey. I'm Yousuke, Yousuke Hanamura. Sorry about this guy,-" he pointed at Teddie "-he still has some maturing to do."

Chie brushed his hand off his shoulder and glared at him. "Like you can talk. You still haven't paid me back for that DVD."

"Come on Chie! Are you really still going on about that? That was six years ago!"

Chie just tapped her foot a couple times and Yousuke slinked away. The gray-haired boy and the auburn-haired girl stood up next. The boy held his hand out and smiled. "I'm Yu Narukami, and this is Rise Kujikawa. It's great to meet a fan form here in the states."

Molly shook everyone's hands and began to talk to each of them excitedly. I just stood back and smiled, this was Molly's show. I leaned on the door, next to the Kanji kid from outside.

About 5 minutes later, the door burst open and a girl wearing a blue hat barged in carrying another girl with pale blue hair. Kanji immediately leaped over and grabbed the unconscious girl. "Naoto what happened!? Why's Labrys with you!?"

The girl shook her head and looked at Yu. "Senpai, we have to get out of here! They're right behind me!"

The guitarist stood up and nodded. Immediately every member of the band, including the manager, gathered their things, making every effort to avoid leaving a single trace. I grabbed Molly's arm and pulled her back against the wall.

Yu looked at over at Rise and spoke. "We need a place to fall back. If Naoto was followed here then the hotel's not going to do it."

Harry stepped forward and coughed. "Sorry to interrupt, but if you need help I might have a suggestion.


	2. Chapter 2: The Three Gates

**AN: Welcome to the second chapter of Foolish Errands. I don't have too much to say, but there is a large section of this chapter which is used to sum up Persona 3 and 4. There are some minor differences to explain the connection to Dresden, but if you'd rather skip them they will be brought up again within the next few chapters. Also, you may notice that the timeline from the Persona games was shifted back a few years. This is largely so that the IT can all be at least 21.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Jim Butcher and I do not own Persona. I have recently come in to possession of a P4 Izanagi no Ookami figure.**

* * *

Ch. 2: The Three Gates

"Though it would help if I knew what was after you guys. And please don't say paparazzi, whatever hit that girl's leg has a lot more fangs than any human I've ever met."

Kanji looked like he was going to yell at me, but the silver-haired kid, Yu, placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. "Forgive us if we don't trust you. It's not often you meet a member of Winter willing to help somebody without anything to gain, especially when he's standing next to one of the queens."

This time, it was my turn to hold Molly back. Not that I couldn't relate. Hardly anyone outside of Arctis Tor should really know what Molly looks like. This kid wasn't a fairy, and he wasn't a wizard, he was completely human. He shouldn't even know about the Never Never. I knew this situation had to be handled carefully and with tact.

"How the hell do you know that?!"

See? Tact.

Yu shrugged his shoulders. "Something felt off when you walked in. I asked a friend about you."

Now that was wrong. We'd been in the same room as him the entire time. He couldn't have talked to anyone about us. What was this kid?

Yu seemed to read my mind. "Who we are isn't very important right now. What is important is that right now we need to get out of here. And if they see you then you'll be just as much a target as we are. I'll agree to listen to what you say, but if that's so than you can't be acting as an agent of Winter. And it has to be help from you, not her."

I felt Molly's shoulder tense when she heard him say that. As much as she had learned over the last six months, she still thought of herself as Molly Carpenter. In her mind the Winter Lady was still Maeve, the part of her that had been changed by taking up the mantle was separate from whom she really was. It was a lesson she hadn't learned yet.

"You know what he means. Just because it doesn't have to define you doesn't mean it won't affect you."

Molly didn't relax, but she at least stopped herself from pulling away from my grip. It was enough. I looked back at the young man before me. "Those terms aren't great, but they'll do. But we need to get out of here now, so how about we trade stories later."

The guitarist nodded and we ran out the door and down the hall, away from the direction Molly and I had arrived from. As we turned the corner, a loud crash resounded from the hall behind us. Kanji looked like he wanted to stand his ground and fight but Yu caught him.

"Eyes forward. We can't afford to fight here."

It was surprising how quickly the taller boy accepted the order. And Yu didn't look back to make sure he had. These kids were used to things like this, and that was perhaps the most frightening thing I'd learned that day.

I glanced over my shoulder corrected myself. The most frightening thing of the day was the mass of darkness coming up behind us. It reminded me of the elemental Peabody had released at Morgan's trial. Its form seemed to devour the light around it and it had spread out to cover the entire hall behind us. We were keeping ahead of it, but only barely. As I stared at the creature I saw a long ropey arm reaching from the darkness and gripping the floor to pull itself forward. Then I realized it. There wasn't one creature, there were hundreds, each of them a mass of living darkness. As the first monster pulled itself forward I caught a glimpse of its glowing red eyes, hidden behind a pale blue mask. Then the creature was gone, covered up by the growing mass behind it.

I turned my eyes back forward and fumbled the left glove onto my hand. I focused my will into the runes tattooed onto the leather and made the motion of throwing a ball over my shoulder.

"Fuego Cimeci!"

A ball of fire, slightly larger than a softball, arced onto the floor behind us and burst into a few dozen smaller bits of fire. It was not a particularly powerful attack, but when it touched the creatures they burst into flames. It didn't take long for Yu to lead us to an exit and he threw the door open.

* * *

We turned around and watched the fire trucks pull up to the arena. This time I swear the fire was only sort of my fault. Those things must have been as flammable as gasoline to go up like that.

I gestured at Molly who handed me her phone. I dialed one of the few numbers I had memorized. "Hey, Billy? Sorry about this, but I need to borrow The Den for a few nights."

* * *

The Den was a warehouse the Alphas had taken control of after Murph and they had taken out the Fomorians who had set up camp here. They had been putting what money they could into setting up a sort of bunker here, and after my back-pay as a warden kicked, I managed to pump in enough to set up a decent number of beds and stockpile some food for emergencies.

The Den didn't have much of a threshold, but we had made sure to have one or two people sleep here a couple nights a week to at least create a bare-bones barrier. And it had been enough for me to set some basic wards. Noting dangerous, just a few to discourage teenagers from wandering inside, and some alarms to warn anyone inside of an intruder.

I had sent Molly home. Whatever these kids knew, it was enough to distrust a fae, even one as human as Molly, and we didn't need the distraction right now. She knew I would tell her anything important later.

I flipped on the lamps and gestured to the back of the room. "There's a first aid kit on the shelf. There should be some fresh bandages and disinfectant for the girl."

Yu shook his head and gestured to one of the beds. Kanji walked over and set the girl on the bed. Yukiko and Teddie walked over and knelt by her side. They uncovered the wound and for the first time I got a good look at it.

There was no blood. The wound oozed a thick grayish blue liquid, and bright sparks jumped from within the wound to the bandage as it was pulled away.

I was about to speak up but Yu stared me down and gestured for me to watch. The two beside the girl hovered their hands over the wounds. A faint green light reached out from their hands and seeped into the skin around the wound. Before my eyes, the skin around the hole began to grow and stretch until the wound disappeared.

I watched the process closely. It looked like magic, and the two of them felt human, but the energy itself seemed…off, almost inhuman. They were too old to be changelings and they didn't give off the oppressive feelings another typed of half-blood would. Whatever these kids could do, it was something that I had never even heard of.

Yu watched me examine the process before he spoke. "It's not magic. Not by your definition at least."

"Then what is it? And who would summon monsters like that to attack a band?"

Yu hesitated. "It's a long story, and I'm not sure if I can trust you with it yet."

That much I understood at least. Trust was a rare commodity in our world. But we didn't have time to build up any real trust. And there was only one fast way to get to know a person.

The soul gaze is one of the most powerful and dangerous tools in every wizards book. It requires no spell and almost no effort. When a wizard looks into another person's eyes, he sees the very essence of their soul. He will immediately understand their emotions and motivations on a level so deep that he can never forget it. And it goes both ways. Every person who a wizard soul gazes gets to see right back into his soul.

I had soul gazed a few people over the years. Only a few of them were on purpose, and I had a choice in even less.

I didn't want to force a kid to look into my soul. There were parts of me that I wasn't proud of, and my subconscious is a dick. But right now there were monsters chasing after 9 kids in my town and I needed to know why.

I explained the nature of a soul gaze to Yu. He agreed.

It took us both about an hour to recover from the soul gaze. At least this one didn't faint. But it looked like he was finally ready to tell me his story.

Yu and his friends sat in a half-circle along the beds and I sat across from them. Yu sat in center and he grabbed Rise's hand before he started the story.

"The creatures that attacked us were working as a result of a corruption spread through the world by Outsiders."

That got my attention. I'd already learned about it last Halloween, but most wizards on the council hadn't even known, and this kid already did.

Yu saw my reaction and smiled a bit. "So you already know part of it. Good, that's less I'll have to explain. What you probably don't know is that this is actually the third attempt the outsiders have made to spread the corruption. The first attempt started in Japan, 17 years ago.

"None of us were involved in that attempt. What I know of it is mostly information that Labrys here heard from her sister. A corporation known as the Kirijo Group had been conducting experiments on creatures they dubbed Shadows. As far as we know, the experiment was an attempt to harvest the creatures' natural ability to manipulate time. The experiment ended in failure when a few of the scientists realized that the leader of the group was attempting to call down a sort of apocalypse, they sabotaged the project. It created an explosion which split the trapped shadow they had contained into twelve pieces, one of which found its way into a young boy.

"Ten years later, he returned to the city and attended a high school, where he joined a group called SEES. This group had dedicated itself to exploring a time hidden between days, where most people were placed into coffins, and only a few could remain awake. The sky would turn green and the moon and water the color of blood. They called it the Dark Hour.

"A few of the people who could remain awake during the Dark Hour also had the ability to fight the shadows. The power of Persona. The nature of this power wasn't truly known to them, but I will try to explain it later.

"For a year the boy fought shadows, and each full moon a truly powerful shadow would appear. For 11 months he fought them. Then the group learned the true purpose of the Dark Hour. It wasn't actually an extra hour in the day. It was the result of a rift created when the lab that hosted the shadow exploded. At exactly midnight every night, the rift would expand in order to allow the shadows to be slain, and to reform into Nyx, the mother of shadows.

"This was the Outsiders first attempt at corruption, though they didn't know that at the time. The rift connected to the first of three gates. The Golden Gate led to the space between souls. If they had gained access to that place then they could corrupt every soul in existence instantly.

"When the herald that could open the gate was summoned, the boy who had once contained part of it sacrificed himself to create the Great Seal. He used the energy of his own soul to bind the gate shut, and stop the being who attempted to open it, the corruptor of men."

I spoke up. "I was told the fae call it Nemesis."

Yu smiled at that. "Not exactly, but they aren't far off. The being has a different name that we can't say here.

"The second part of the story is mine. Six years ago I moved to a town in Japan called Inaba. I was staying with my uncle for a year while my parents worked overseas. My first day of class, a woman was murdered.

"She was a new anchor who had recently been caught in an affair with a low level politician. She was found hung upside down on a power line. Everyone wrote it off as a revenge thing, the politician's wife killed her or hired someone to do it.

"But it wasn't over. A few days later, another girl was dead. Her name was Saki Konishi. She was in our school, a few years older than us. She had been the first person to find the body, so most people thought the killer was covering his tracks. The three of us learned something different.

"Prior to Saki's murder, we learned of the Midnight Channel. Supposedly, if you looked into a TV at midnight on a rainy night, you would see your soul mate.

"Two nights before Saki's murder, three of us watched the Midnight Channel, me Yousuke and Chie, and all three of saw Saki. But something else happened to me. I heard a voice speaking to me, urging me to enter a new world. And when I placed my hand on the TV, it passed through like water.

I was about to ask what he meant, but Kanji glared at me and forced me to back down. Apparently this wasn't a story that should be interrupted.

"The next day, still before Saki was killed, the three of us entered the other world for the first time, a world located on the other side of the television screen. That's where we met Teddie, and we later learned that the murderer had been using this world. I don't know if he knew how, but when he threw a person into the TV they showed up dead a few days later.

"Over the year we ventured into the TV countless times. Everyone outside of us three and Teddie was at some point thrown into the TV. A person thrown inside created a new area in the world, a fortress designed to keep others out, and their own Shadow was forced out. Not the weak shadows like you saw before, but powerful Shadows, born of the suppressed emotions everyone has. When we defeated these shadows, and the one who created it accepted it as a part of them, they would transform into Personas. Personas we used to fight against the darkness."

"It was much later that we learned the nature of the world. It was a doorway created by the goddess Izanami. She was already corrupted when Izanagi abandoned her to the underworld, and she was attempting to open the door for more to be corrupted. The second wave of corruption tried to enter through the Crimson Gate. That gate led to the collective unconscious, the TV world."

It looked like he was finished, but I checked around the circle to make sure nobody else had something to add. "So those things at the arena, those Shadows, are part of a third attack?"

Yu seemed troubled. "Maybe, as far as we know, the corruption can't spread through the physical world as easily as the others. And we don't know where the third gate is. One of the reasons we formed the band was so that we could travel the world and find the source, but they've chased us everywhere."

I held back a sigh of relief, that meant my suspicion was probably right. "The third gate is in the Never Never. I've seen it. The winter court had been holding off the Outsider attack for hundreds of years."

Yu actually smiled at that. "That explains a lot. I actually suspected the third gate would be there. A physical location seemed a little farfetched."

I nodded. "What are Shadows? Those things back at the arena didn't look like they belong to humans."

"They didn't. Lesser shadows, like the ones you saw back there, are more universal. From what we've managed to figure out, they're born of collected emotions from everyone, not just an individual. Each one contains the emotions of dozens of humans. I think that the corruption is what brought them together, without it the emotions just sort of drift around."

"And Personas? You've used the term a few times but you haven't actually said what it is."

Yu nodded and gestured to his friends. As one they stood up and held a hand in front of them. Blue light shined around them and a card materialized in each of their hands. As one they crushed the cards and spoke. "PERSONA!"

A figure appeared behind each of them. No two were the same and all of them had an air of power I had felt only a few times before.

They summoned gods.


End file.
